Bauhaus: 2 full floors + staggered floor (approx. 200 sqm) - optimization

Hello everyone,

after successfully acquiring the plot of land, my husband and I are now in the middle of planning our single-family home and would appreciate any tips on the attached designs.

Bebauungsplan/Einschränkungen
Plot size: 680 sqm
no slope
Site occupancy index 0.25
Building window, building line and boundary: from 5m from the street, 12m long, see attachment
Edge development: no
Number of parking spaces: 1
Number of floors: 2 full floors + optional recessed floor
Roof shape: flat roof
Style: cube
Maximum height/limits: 10m

Anforderungen der Bauherren
Style, roof shape, building type: Bauhaus, flat roof
Basement, floors: no basement; two full floors plus recessed floor
Number of people, age: 2 adults, 2 babies
Space requirements ground floor, upper floor: approx. 200 sqm
Office: 2 home offices
Guest sleepers per year: manageable, can use office
Open or closed architecture: open
Conservative or modern style: modern
Open kitchen, kitchen island
Number of dining seats: 6
Fireplace: no
Music/stereo wall: no
Roof terrace
Garage

Hausentwurf
Planner: planner from a construction company and do-it-yourself
What do you particularly like? Why? The large window fronts in the west and north and the kitchen window in the south, because we like bright rooms with lots of sunlight and want to be able to look out onto the street from the kitchen.
What do you not like? The living-dining-kitchen area feels cramped, a larger floor plan is not desired since we want to have as much garden as possible. The exterior could still be optimized, as the house looks very tall due to the 3 floors and the facades with the windows do not always appear completely harmonious. To visually loosen up the house a bit, we are considering cladding the recessed floor in wood. If this becomes too expensive, we are considering a color accent instead.

Wenn Ihr verzichten müsst, on which details/extensions
- you can do without: We can do without the platform staircase if using another staircase type allows better use of space. The technical room could also be smaller.
- you cannot do without: We do not want to do without a generous living/dining/kitchen area of at least 50 sqm and a wide kitchen (at least 5 meters) with a kitchen island.

Warum ist der Entwurf so geworden, wie er jetzt ist?
Planning according to our own wishes, especially the desire for an open living/dining/kitchen area with large windows (lift-and-slide doors) and a kitchen with a south-facing window. We especially like the corner window in the living room and the parents’ area in the recessed floor. It is also important to us that there is no direct view from the entrance area into the living room.

Was ist die wichtigste/grundlegende Frage zum Grundriss in 130 Zeichen zusammengefasst?
Can the layout on the ground floor be better optimized to achieve a more spacious living/dining/kitchen area?

We would be very happy to receive feedback. Thank you very much!

Attached is another variant. The recessed floor is now clad with wood, which makes the house look significantly more attractive from the outside. In addition, the entrance and the staircase have been slightly modified. Background: we wanted to make the staircase and the utility room a bit narrower to widen the living room. We also found that the wardrobe was a bit too far from the entrance. Overall, the entrance and staircase area still doesn’t feel quite right to us. We would be very grateful for suggestions for improvement.

Best regards
Lena

Wow, that is quite a big block. Are you sure you want the parent area all the way at the top? I wouldn’t want that, because then you always have to go up and down two floors. Are you sure you want a rooftop terrace? Usually, you hardly ever use it if you have a terrace with a garden downstairs. You write about cardinal directions, but unfortunately they are not shown on the plans. In my opinion, the view from the kitchen onto the street is overrated (for what?), I would find proximity to the terrace more important for short walking distances. Where is your storage space? Or is there a basement?

I just quickly looked over it now. If I look at the furniture size in the parents' room, then you should check all the furniture and draw them in with a realistic size.

North arrow in the "sketched site plan"

Hello Lena,

a very interesting design.

I'll be honest, I find the exterior view creepy. I don't see Bauhaus. Only the "use" of a flat roof in combination with projections/recesses does not create a Bauhaus style.
The building, especially one view, reminds me more of a Tetris block.
You have actually already recognized it yourself. The house has too little ground area for three floors, combined with the many recesses it looks like Tetris.

I haven't looked at the floor plan in detail yet. At first glance, a typical prefab house/BU standard - two-story floor plan for a family of four. That is not bad for that reason, but also somewhat boring. Because you have a room program and wishes that don't fit the ground area, another floor was simply added.

Of course, you can now try to optimize the individual floors, but in my assessment, you will at most slightly soften the building mass; it will then be a bit less bad but not really good.

Even though you haven't written anything about it... you have a very generous budget, right? That's a lot of square meters and a lot of glass and roof terraces, etc.... depending on the region, you're clearly heading towards 3000€/sqm (or even more).

You can add dimensions to your plot. I don't see the problem yet.
Erase the first floor and give the house more ground area.

Wow, that’s quite a big block. Are you sure you want the parents’ area at the very top? I wouldn’t want that, as you always have to go up and down two floors. Are you sure you want a roof terrace? Usually, you hardly use it at all if you have a terrace with garden downstairs. You’re writing about cardinal directions, but unfortunately, they are not indicated in the plans. In my opinion, the view from the kitchen onto the street is overrated (for what purpose?), I would prefer proximity to the terrace for shorter walking distances. Where is your storage space? Or is there a basement?

Thank you very much! Yes, it is quite a big block. That worries us a bit too.

We are quite sure about the parents’ area. The roof terrace is stipulated by the development plan in the sense that the recessed floor may only cover 75% of the area below. We probably won’t use the terrace very much, though.

Regarding the cardinal directions: Sorry. The street is to the south.

Why a view from the kitchen onto the street: That’s how we currently live. We quite like it. To have a shorter route from the kitchen to the terrace, the terrace could be extended to the kitchen door.

About the storage space: There is no basement. Storage is planned in the technical room, the rear part of the garage, and the utility room on the upper floor. Additionally, the rooms offer some storage space because of their size.

Best regards Lena